Environmental factors and anxiety levels of pregnant women.

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Thesis Discipline

Education

Degree Grantor

University of Canterbury

Degree Level

Masters

Degree Name

Master of Arts

The present study was concerned with the effects
of Antenatal Class Attendance and other environmental
influences on the anxiety levels of pregnant women.
Subjects were 258 women (91 primi-, 107 dui-, and 60
multigravidae) at various stages of pregnancy of whom
92 were currently attending antenatal classes, 87 were
not currently attending antenatal classes but had previously
attended such classes, and 79 were not attending
antenatal classes and had never previously done so.
Subjects completed the Pregnancy Research Questionnaire
from which estimates of anxiety and other psychological
reactions were derived. A background information questionnaire
was also completed by each subject and was used
to obtain details on the subject's environment.
Two sets of analyses were undertaken. Firstly,
multiple regression analyses were used to examine the
extent to which anxiety measures could be predicted from
the set of environmental details. The results indicated
that anxiety and other measures were very difficult to
predict and that attendance at antenatal classes did not
make a substantial contribution to such prediction. The
most potent influence on anxiety levels (in terms of
proportion of variance accounted for) appeared to be
degree of financial security (with high anxiety associated
with low financial security). A multivariate analysis
of variance (MANOVA) was also used to ascertain the
characteristics which distinguished highly anxious
women from others in the sample. A variety of factors
differentiated these groups and among such factors, the
importance of degree of financial security was apparent.
A series of exploratory analyses (MANOVA's) were also
undertaken and the implication of financial insecurity
as an influence on maternal anxiety was again indicated.
The results were discussed in terms of the difficulties
involved in assessing environmental influences, the
implications for future antenatal course planning, and
the need for additional support services for financially insecure women.